And mama was happy
I had insurance
and only lived an hour away–
too far for her, but that way
I had some distance,
and mama was happy
the place I lived wasn’t sloppy,
didn’t reek with pestilence,
and the P.O. was 2 minutes away,
so I could mail that I was okay
living her ideal existence,
though not so simple being happy
when work says make it snappy
on the assembly line, and patience
wears, so you want to steal away
from everything, but not today
or next year, because conscience
says make mama happy
while her mind’s not too far away.
∞
Marc Darnell is a facilities tech and online tutor in Omaha NE, and has also been a phlebotomist, hotel supervisor, busboy, editorial assistant, farmhand, devout recluse, and incurable brooder– leading to near auto collisions. He received his MFA from the University of Iowa, and has published poems in The Lyric, Rue Scribe, Verse, Skidrow Penthouse, Shot Glass Journal, The HyperTexts, Candelabrum, The Road Not Taken, Aries, Ship of Fools, Open Minds Quarterly, The Fib Review, Verse-Virtual, Blue Unicorn, Ragazine, The Literary Nest, and The Pangolin Review among others.
